The largest American retailer is making more and more efforts to gain a foothold in the fashion market.
According to the company's official statement walmart, it absorbed the startup Zeekit, which specializes in the creation of virtual fitting rooms. The technologies being created allow customers to evaluate how the clothes they like will look on them - for this, it is enough just to upload your photo. The result can be shared with friends, for example, to get their opinion.
Denise Incandela, head of fashion at Walmart US, said shoppers will be able to experience virtual fittings for both Walmart-owned brands and brands such as Free People, Champion and Levi Strauss. According to her, this will make online shopping more social and improve the quality of service. And if the main problem of making purchases on the Web has historically been a misunderstanding of how the purchased item will eventually look on the buyer, virtual fitting should “change the rules of the game”.
Recently, Walmart has been paying more and more attention to the fashion market. To do this, the retailer is launching its own brands (like Sofia Jeans, Scoop or Free Assembly), hiring designers (like Brandon Maxwell, who created dresses for Michelle Obama and Lady Gaga), expanding the range of products offered by more famous clothing brands and closing deals. with companies like ThredUp, which specializes in used clothing. The takeover of Zeekit is clearly another step in this direction.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Also, Walmart representatives declined to comment, citing a period of calm ahead of the first quarter earnings report, which will be presented in the very near future.
Startup Zeekit is from Israel. It was founded by a small team of three professionals who already had considerable experience in real-time image processing using machine learning technologies. Initially, they worked on the creation of technologies for the military, but later decided to try their hand at the fashion world. Zeekit owns unique patented developments.
